NEW YORK, Sept 4:
Serena Williams and Ekaterina Makarova sprinted into the semi-finals of the US Open, while world number one Novak Djokovic and marathon man Kei Nishikori were forced to take the long road into the last four.
Having already played the longest match of the tournament in the fourth round, a bruising four-hour 19-minute battle with Canadian Milos Raonic, Nishikori had enough left in the tank to get past third seed Stan Wawrinka 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7) 6-7 (5) 6-4 in a four-hour 15-minute test of wills to become the first Japanese man into the last four of a grand slam in 81 years.
Bidding to reach the Flushing Meadows final for a fifth straight year, Djokovic did not need five sets to tame a valiant Andy Murray 7-6 (1) 6-7 (1) 6-2 6-4 but the big Serb did have to dig deep to see off his longtime rival who was in obvious distress at the end of what had been a wildly enthralling stadium court encounter. While Murray and Djokovic battled their way through a 73 minute opening set, 32-year-old Williams needed just 63 minutes in total on a sultry evening to breeze past Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-2 and become the oldest player to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows since Martina Navratilova in 1991.
Russian left-hander Makarova, who will take on Williams for a spot in Sunday’s final, made her best mark in grand slam singles by outslugging Victoria Azarenka, the US Open runner-up the last two years, 6-4 6-2 in a snappy 87 minutes. While the day presented plenty of intriguing matchups it was the late night clash under the Arthur Ashe Stadium floodlights between Murray and Djokovic, in a rematch of the 2012 final won by the Scotsman, that was always going to be the showstopper.
The pair delivered on the promise, combining for some stunning long rallies until Murray struggled with his movement near the end and required a hot compress for his back midway through the fourth set.
But he produced arguably his best tennis since having back surgery 11 months ago and gave the top seed a real scare.
(Agencies)
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